


sending away for pastry preferences

by PedantsUnited



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Memory Loss, Sending Shenanigans, Spoilers for c2e100, essek needs friends, jester deserves pastries, shadowgast if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25140127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PedantsUnited/pseuds/PedantsUnited
Summary: “After much stewing, internal debating and weighing of the pros and cons, Essek had come to the decision to bring Jester pastries.”*Contains e100 spoilers and post e100 speculation*Essek asks Jester what pastries she would like via sending but her response confuses him.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre & Essek Thelyss
Comments: 8
Kudos: 89





	sending away for pastry preferences

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first CR fic and I blame the ETFC. This came about from discussions about the memory loss on Rumblecusp and both what would happen if Essek messaged Jester and whether Caleb’s keen mind would protect him. It’s also just a general appreciation of Essek and Jester’s friendship.

After much stewing, internal debating and weighing of the pros and cons, Essek had come to the decision to bring Jester pastries.

His last visit to the Mighty Nein on the Balleater had left him very unsure of where he stood with them.

They all eyed him warily and perhaps that was his fault for not asking before he teleported onto their ship. Caleb had asked after his wellbeing and his chest fluttered. But then he mentioned his plans regarding tying up loose ends and Beau had asked “what are their names?”. He couldn’t blame them really. He knew this would happen, he knew that if he got close to them it would only bring pain. He would either have to lie to them for the rest of his life or they would find out and never see him the same way again.

But his mind kept coming back to the last thing Jester said. A quiet “send cupcakes” as he teleported away. Jester had always been the one to extend a hand to him. When she hugged him after giving them their house he’d been utterly confused. He’d never met anyone so generous with their affection as Jester. She surprised him once again when she offered him a cupcake and the gesture was so strange to him that he checked it for poison before eating it. Now of course, he was aware that Jester would be the last person to do such a thing – but it certainly wasn’t beyond Veth’s capabilities. Then there was the dinner invitation that he accepted. For a long time, he believed that the best path was to keep his relationship with the Nein transactional, trade favour for favour and keep them at a distance. But that proved incredibly difficult especially with Caleb and Jester. So, he indulged himself even if only for a couple of days. Learnt what it felt like to have friends for once. And maybe even a best friend in Jester, he still had the parasol she made for him sitting in a stand by his front door for the next time he might need it.

It’s just who Jester is, she sees someone hurting, and like the cleric she is she offers them healing. _“We’ve done nothing but show you kindness.”_ So, who was he if he couldn’t repay that kindness by granting her request?

The only problem was that he had no idea what to buy. When they came over for breakfast, he was worried about getting anything too exotic for their palates, he wasn’t sure how much Xhorhassian food they had had the opportunity to try so he just went for foods that seemed safe. What little he knew of Empire cuisine was that it lacked spice so that excluded quite a range of Xhorhassian dishes. He also knew that a common staple was coagulated milk from various beasts called “cheese”. Caduceus had served it at dinner the previous night, so he deemed it safe enough. But if Jester’s constructive criticism that day was anything to go by then he certainly didn’t have his finger on the pulse of Nicodranian cuisine.

This problem sent him into another spiral of questioning himself but ultimately, he decided that he would get a batch of Xhorhassian pastries that he liked and a batch of Nicodranian pastries that were more to her taste. And he concluded that the only way to find out what her taste is was to go straight to the source.

And so, he pulled out a piece of copper wire and twirled it between his fingers to cast _Sending_. “Hypothetically if I were considering buying you some pastries, do you have a recommended Nicodranian bakery? Are there any specific pastries you would like?”

There was an agonising pause and Essek was scared that he’d said something wrong.

“Oh, um hi. I’m not sure who this is or what Nicodranian means. So, I can’t recommend anything but there are some great pastries here-” The message cut off and while that wasn’t unusual for Jester the content of her reply certainly was. But it had been Jester’s voice so there was no chance that it went to the wrong person. Perhaps it was just a joke that Essek didn’t understand.

He recast the spell. “Very funny, Jester. This is Essek. I’m surprised you would kid around after begging me for pastries for days. But if you already have some…” He purposefully let the message trail off to mess with her.

Her response was quicker this time. “Oh, hey it’s you again. I don’t know an Essek but we’re always excited for new people here. You should really come to Rumblecusp and-” Her reply cut off once again.

This was certainly unusual. Even if Jester was kidding with him, she would still cast _Sending_ to finish her thought. And if she _was_ out of spell slots, she would at least try to stay under the word limit if that were the case.

Rumblecusp… that was where her convention was occurring but why would her god mess with her memories.

The only conclusion wasn’t a happy one, something had happened to Jester to magically lose her memory. It wasn’t beyond the pale given the Nein’s penchant for getting into dangerous situations. All Essek could hope was that they weren’t all affected by it.

He ran through the list of the Mighty Nein that he could contact. Veth and Beau had given him the stink eye so they might not appreciate being bothered if he was just overreacting. He wasn’t certain where he stood with Fjord or Yasha. Caduceus had _Sending_ too but he didn’t trust him to speak with brevity. So that just left Caleb.

That conclusion naturally made Essek a bit nervous, but it was outweighed by his worry over Jester. “Um, Caleb, apologies for um bothering you but I messaged Jester and her response was well… worrisome. Just checking that all’s well there.”

Caleb’s response was immediate. “Den Göttern sei Dank, Essek. The others they… Sheiβe something bad’s happened to them…”

Essek didn’t wait for the last eleven words. He started gathering components that he would need for a fight.

“…they’ve forgotten everything and I’m playing along. We’re on Rumblecusp.”

He cast his fourth _Sending_ spell of the day. “Where exactly should I teleport to? What can I do or bring to help?”

Caleb tried his best to explain the situation. Both he and Essek were thankful that his Keen Mind had prevented him from forgetting like the others. It seemed that whatever magic had been put over them didn’t work along the lines of other memory-altering magic, rather it slowly eroded away at the mind. Essek planned to teleport to the shore of Rumblecusp and meet Caleb there to plan further.

Just as he had opened his mouth to begin casting _Teleport,_ he remembered one last thing that he needed. He walked briskly to his front door and plucked the parasol that Jester had so considerately made for him from its stand. And with a word he was gone.


End file.
